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Category Archives: Food

Located in the middle of the quiet town of Wheeler, Oregon the Tsunami Grill is one of the best options for lunch or dinner in the local area. Situated right on the Nehalem bay / river, they have seating options inside and out, with amazing views of the bay estuary. Wheeler is a small town in between Nehalem and Rockaway Beach, along the Oregon Coast highway. There are several antique shops in the town to browse with cool and unique stuff. The public boat launch for the town of wheeler is next door and stays busy during the spring and fall salmon runs making for always something to watch when sitting out on the deck enjoying a cold one. There is a good chance to watch an angler catch a chinook or coho salmon while eating out on the back deck overlooking the water as the Tsuanami Bar Grill is located right in front of a known fish holding spot.

Serving traditional American favorites like a cheeseburgers and coast specialties like clam chowder make it a perfect fit for most groups. If you like Asian inspired food than certainly consider checking out the rice and BBQ pork dish, it is phenomenal and comes with a side of veggies. The spring rolls and spicy dipping sauce are a personal favorite, especially when you just need a little appetizer to snack on with a glass of beer or wine.

Enjoying the View

BBQ Pork with Rice and Side Vegetables

Bacon Cheeseburger and Fries

Asian Spring Rolls with Sweet and Spicy Sauce

The pricing is reasonable for a place on the coast with a great view and good food. The service is excellent, always kept our drinks full and food came out at an acceptable pace.

Grab a drink in the bar or sit out on the patio deck looking at the river and just relax.

Excellent Tides This Weekend

This upcoming Memorial day weekend is time for a great low tide for Razor clams at the Oregon north coast beaches in Clatsop County. Between Seaside and Astoria there will be a lot of clams harvested. The low tides are in the early mornings bottoming out around 8 – 9 AM, check the local tide location (http://www.saltwatertides.com/dynamic.dir/oregonsites.html) where you will be going. Get to the clamming grounds an hour and half early so you have time to dig a full limit, if you have never done it before you will need a little time to get the hang of everything.

The weather for the weekend looks to be a little off with occasional rain so be ready to be out in a typical wet Oregon spring shower. Other critical components to remember to have include: digging device either a long flat clam shovel or a clam gun which is one of those long tubes with handles, a shellfish license, individual bags for every person in your group to carry their own clams.
Remember that everyone has to dig themselves and carry their own harvest.

Watch and Learn How to Clam for Razors

And how to do it with a shovel

Make sure you do not bend the shovel back hard, pull straight up to remove the sand in order to avoid breaking the clam in half. They are very brittle and crack easy, so be careful, because they will cut you if you are not watching what you are doing when removing them from the sand.

The beaches will be busy but there is plenty of clams despite it being crowded if the surf stays sort of mellow everyone should be able to have a really good morning exercise collecting for an awesome evening dinner meal. Have fun and enjoy the Memorial Day Weekend!

The Pizza Garden is an excellent location for lunch or dinner if you are travelling along the Oregon Coast Highway, but is also a great place to stop in for a special dessert. All of the desserts are made from scratch including all of the ice cream flavors that are available. There is a wide array of options to choose from the most popular butterscotch and Irish creme to other unique flavors like Coconut, fresh berry sherbets, and of course, simple selections like chocolate and Vanilla. The best thing about this place is that sometimes you don’t want to order a whole dessert after a meal especially a large lasagna or pasta or pizza dish, but they offer an excellent low cost solution. The ice cream taster. It is served in a nice little cup and is enough to clean your pallet and leave you fully satisfied. The best part about the taster is that they are only a buck, that’s right you can still enjoy a little dessert at the Pizza Garden for only a single dollar.

Stop and check out this great place and enjoy the views from the large bay windows that look out to the river and bay.

Coos Bay, Oregon is a fun place to travel to on the Oregon Coast, located South of Florence and West of Roseburg it is a popular south coast city that is home to a wide range of fun activities. The bay itself is a wonderful place to go sight seeing or get out on the water in a kayak for just a great day of exercise and nature watching. There is a large fishing community that moors in Coos Bay. Tenmile lake is also just a little north of the main city which is a popular freshwater destination on the coast.

If you are visiting Coos Bay then you may want to consider stopping at the following local businesses for a sweet treat or a lunch or dinner.

Coney Station located next to part of the bay is a great eatery that serves over 20 different beers on tap making it a great place to stop for a drink and a burger or other delicious items. They have a healthy selection of seafood entrees as well. This is a great hang out spot and perfect if you were spending a day at the beach and want to grab a bite to eat for lunch before continuing with your day trip to the Coos Bay area. It has the neighborhood bar type feel with a couple of pool tables and a great selection of brews. Not the best place to come and hang out with the family, but perfect for a day trip lunch or dinner stop.

The Cranberry Sweets Company as seen on the Rachel Ray show is a great local candy shop that makes lots of awesome desserts and treats. If you are a chocolate or candy lover then you will want to include a stop to the factory store in Coos Bay on your next visit. This local treasure has been in business for 50 years. They specialize in making many wonderful fruit based candies with Oregon berries and fruits. They also have an excellent line of brittle’s, toffee’s and caramels or you may just enjoy picking up a package of tea cookies and finding a drive through coffee shop for an espresso or a hot tea and enjoying a snack at a viewpoint looking the bay. This can be a perfect way to enjoy a stop in Coos Bay especially on a raining winter day when you may not want to be out on the beach or bay.

If you live along the Oregon Coast or are planning on visiting in the next week or two you are in for a treat if you like fresh berries. The blackberries are in season and are getting very ripe. Depending on where you go for a walk you are likely to encounter full size berries that are juicy, sweet, deep black, and fall off easily as you pick them from the vines. The last few days has been very good and we are stocking up the freezer with vacuum sealed bags of juicy blackberries for enjoying through the winter months. The areas that get the most sun tend to get ripe the soonest and the reverse is true so the shaded areas tend to get ripe later in the season so right now we are seeing some patches fully ripe and getting close to being finished while others are still all hard small white berries that won’t be ready for another week or two, maybe longer. Bring a bucket or a bag on your next walk and fill up on some berries. Of course look for empty lots and places that are not peoples private property when you do your berry picking. I suggest wearing long pants and long sleeve shirt to avoid unnecessary scratches from the sticky vines. You can sometimes move a large vine out of the way and get closer in and reach through to get berries that others were unwilling to go for if you get to a patch late. There is almost always some berries left even if people have been picking them for awhile, it just depends on how far in you will go get them.

Make a blackberry pie for dessert, blackberry strudel for a breakfast treat or do like we will be doing with some of your berries and make an amazing Oregon Coast Blackberry jam that can be stored in mason jars and enjoyed all year long.

Here are some instructions for a Blackberry Jam Recipe that everyone in your family will enjoy. It is perfect for making a delicious peanut butter and jam sandwich or for giving as a Christmas / Holiday present.

The Rogue Ales Public House is an excellent place to grab a beer and basket of fish and chips or any of the other delicious items off the menu. We had the Halibut fish and chips and the Albacore Tuna fish tacos which were both excellent. The Rogue Ales Public House is located right in the middle of SW Bay Blvd. just before the 101 bridge that crosses the bay./ There are many shops and eateries right along Newport Bay on Bay Blvd. and worth a short walk before or after your meal if you are just stopping in for eats and a drink from a day at the beach. Parking can be tough on a busy weekend, but there is plenty of spaces and we only had to walk a block and a half from our parking spot to get some lunch. We were given a free beer sample when we sat down before we ordered our meal and drink.

Grab an appetizer and a beer or eat a full meal here next time you are in Newport, Oregon.

The pizza at Upper Crust Pizza in Rockaway Beach is excellent, the pie comes with lots of toppings and they are made of good quality ingredients. If you are staying Rockaway Beach and looking for a quick meal that you can order and pick up or a place to go and sit down and have a nice meal then Upper Crust Pizza can certainly do the trick. They also have a Gluten free pizza for people that are focused on specific diets it can be hard to find the right places to eat at the coast, but they have it all for you here.

The menu is full of specialty gourmet pizza options and there is also several seafood pizzas like the Oyster Bed and the Shrimp Delight. There is traditional pizzas as well like a simple Pepperoni or Hawaiian and dinner and side salads or a bread basket to go with your pizza. Upper Crust does not only serve pizza they have some additional meals such as the Halibut Platter and a Burger with tater tots to name a few. My last pizza here was a pepperoni and sausage and it was delicious as the other selections have been. They open up for dinner starting at 4PM and close at 9PM during the week and are open until 10PM during the week. They are located right on HWY 101 just North of the main part of town.

Check the website for specific details about the days that they are open based on the season and to answer any other questions you may have about this excellent pizza parlor on the Oregon Coast. http://uppercrustpizza.blogspot.com/